Strike idles state offices
BY JIM RAGSDALE Pioneer Press Oct. 2, 2001
Drivers' testing stations were closed, the Minnesota Zoo went dark and the
National Guard took over housekeeping chores in state care facilities on
Monday, the first day of the largest state-employee strike in Minnesota
history.
Officials for the state and the two striking unions, who represent more
than half of the state's workers, agreed that the business of the state
was slowed to a walk when picket signs sprouted outside the Capitol on a
warm workday morning. Talks broke off late Saturday in a long-running
dispute over wages and health benefits, and the strike -- delayed once
because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- officially began at 6 a.m.
Monday.
"We are talking about a reduced level of government services,''
David Fisher, commissioner of the Administration Department, said Monday
afternoon. He said the state was using supervisors, nonstriking union
workers, temporary replacement workers and 920 members of the Minnesota
National Guard to try to keep government running.
There was no immediate sign that negotiators for the state or the two
unions -- Council 6 of the American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees, and the Minnesota Association of Professional
Employees -- were in any hurry to get back to the bargaining table. Both
sides said they were willing to talk, but no meetings were scheduled.
AFSCME, representing about 19,000 mostly blue-collar and clerical
workers, and MAPE, representing 10,500 higher-paid professionals, gave
final approval to the strike Sunday, saying the state's final wage and
health-insurance offers are insufficient. State negotiators, represented
by employee relations commissioner Julien Carter, say they can go no
further without jeopardizing state budgets at a time when the economy is
weakening.
The state said it offered AFSCME workers a 3 percent pay hike for each
of the next two years, while MAPE was offered a one-time 4 percent hike
effective in January. The unions and the state continued to argue over
changes in premiums and deductibles for health insurance.
Monday's action is the first state strike since 1981, the largest in
terms of the number of workers affected and the perhaps the stiffest
management challenge Ventura has faced. Both sides are operating under the
cloud of the terrorist attacks, and state workers are concerned their
strike may be viewed as unpatriotic.
When several hundred strikers gathered on the state Capitol steps
Monday morning, they sang "God Bless America'' and recited the Pledge
of Allegiance. "We feel we are patriotic,'' said Bev Kelley of St.
Paul, a sign-language interpreter. "We are going about business as
usual. And we're not being unreasonable.''
The throng shouted, "We want Jesse!'' but the governor, who
aggravated a hip and back injury over the weekend, was not in the building
Monday. He declined to comment on the strike.
Union officials estimated that 80 percent of their members honored the
strike. Throughout the bureaucracy on Monday, once-busy offices were
quiet, and the public found some public services closed for the day.
-- Members of the Minnesota National Guard, called up by Gov. Jesse
Ventura on Sunday, were helping feed, clothe and care for residents of
state-run veterans' homes, community-based group homes and state
hospitals. A guard spokesman said the troops were performing the duties of
nursing assistants. Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe, DFL-Erskine, a
longtime supporter of collective bargaining rights for state workers, said
he opposed Ventura's decision to call out the Guard to take over the jobs
of striking workers.
-- Metro area drivers' examination testing stations -- usually bustling
with 16-year-olds and their nervous parents -- were closed, as were the
state's vehicle services offices in downtown St. Paul and Mendota Heights.
Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver said customers can do their
vehicle-registration business at county offices, but he was unsure when he
could get the testing stations running again. Of the state's 94 driver
testing stations, five -- in Bemidji, Detroit Lakes, Willmar, Rochester
and Thief River Falls -- were open Monday.
-- To replace the Capitol Security guards and to provide strike-related
security, the state hired about 40 retired police officers at $25 an hour.
The striking guards earn less than $15 an hour. In addition, the state
signed contracts with three firms to provide additional guards at costs
ranging from $20 to nearly $39 per hour.
-- The Economic Security Department closed six workforce centers
outside the metro area, where workers come for job training and
counseling. In addition, a rapid response team set up to assist workers in
mass layoffs -- such as last week's devastating Northwest Airlines
cutbacks -- went on strike.
-- Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, with about one-fourth of her 96
employees working, had to close the public counter in the State Office
Building, usually humming with customers filing and obtaining business
documents. Kiffmeyer herself was at a computer printing out copies of
documents, and said she was trying to hire temporary workers as quickly as
possible.
-- Huge departments were operating with skeleton staffing. The Revenue
Department said that of 989 union workers eligible to strike, 155 reported
for work, and officials said they were eliminating some telephone services
to taxpayers and some collection efforts.
-- At the Pollution Control Agency, supervisors and managers filled in
for striking employees, focusing on high priorities such as landfill
cleanup and air-quality monitoring. State parks, trails and public lake
access remained open, but with limited services, and the Department of
Natural Resources said supervisors, temporary hires and nonstrikers would
transport millions of walleye, muskie and catfish fingerlings from rearing
ponds to lakes around the state.
State conservation officers filed a complaint Monday seeking an
injunction to prevent supervisors from assigning them to do the work of
striking employees. The suit, filed in Ramsey County District Court,
specifically seeks to keep conservation officers from being assigned to
work at the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter.
Patrick Sweeney, Bill Salisbury, Casey Selix, Toni Coleman, Lynda
McDonnell and Dennis Lien contributed to this report.
Jim Ragsdale can be reached at jragsdale@pioneerpress.com
or (651) 228-5529.
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